We’re too quick to judge these days. We don’t give things time to grow anymore. We want them delivered fully developed and complete; no tinkering required.

When the UFC announced their partnership with FOX, people expected them to post eye-popping ratings from Day One; to know the right formula for assembling fight cards for the trio of networks that now carry live events, and that neither side of the newly formed business relationship would need any time to work out whatever kinks may arise with the new multi-platform broadcast partnership.

Those expectations were unrealistic.

So too is judging this partnership under a “Pass/Fail” system just 12 months into an 84-month deal.

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The first year of the UFC’s seven-year pact with the FOX network was about finding out what works, what doesn’t, and making the necessary adjustments. That seems pretty clear given the various changes that have already been made to The Ultimate Fighter this year, and the collection of different main card compositions we’ve seen for the four events held on “Big FOX” over the last 12 months.

The first year is akin to a chef in the kitchen working on a new recipe. It takes time to find the right ingredients, how long the dish takes to cook, what sides work best with the main, and all those things. You judge the finished product, not the numerous “trial and error’ attempts that hit the plate along the way.

Looking at the two FOX events on the calendar in the next two months – December 8th in Seattle and January 26 in Chicago – it appears that the UFC has found a recipe they’re happy with, and are ready to put it on the menu.

Next weekend’s event in Seattle, Washington and January’s return to Chicago feature main cards with similar construction. Both are headlined by lesser known, less established champions in need of the added jolt of exposure that comes with fighting on network television, with the main card rounded out by pairings that should produce excitement while introducing a number of potential future stars to a greater audience.

Even though he’ll enter the cage with the lightweight belt in his possession, Benson Henderson isn’t as well known as his opponent, Nathan Diaz, and pairing the two on FOX is a great way to give Henderson a strong push heading into next year, provided he wins. If the belt changes hands, the new champion has been crowned on the biggest platform available to the organization, and though he’s already recognizable due to his last name and largely successful tenure in the UFC to date, earning championship gold on FOX would catapult Diaz to a new level of stardom.

After a year of hearing fans and critics (and guys like me who fall under both headings) say they need to do a better job of showcasing the brightest young stars in the organization, these next two FOX shows will do exactly that. Next weekend, up-and-comers Alexander Gustafsson and Rory MacDonald will fight on the largest stage of their careers against the biggest names they’ve faced to date, with Gustafsson battling former light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and MacDonald squaring off with MMA legend BJ Penn. They’re tough fights that will elevate the profile of the younger half of each pairing regardless of the outcome, while wins for either (or both) would establish them as bigger draws and fighters to watch in their respective division as 2013 begins.

A similar formula is being utilized for building the January event as well. Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson also defends his belt against a former Ultimate Fighter winner in the main event when he takes on John Dodson, with the Quinton “Rampage” Jackson versus Glover Teixeira fight serving as this event’s Rua versus Gustafsson. While there isn’t a Penn versus MacDonald fight on the card, there are two more bouts pitting top-end contenders in need of an extra push taking place, one in the lightweight division – Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis – and one in the “in much need of a boost in exposure” featherweight ranks, where Erik Koch and Ricardo Lamas will lock up.

The need to hold off on judging the unfinished product doesn’t stop at “Big FOX” either.

While the tendency is to point to the poor numbers delivered on FUEL TV as a negative, the reality is that the mass amounts of UFC content available on the channel produced massive increases in viewership for the network. It also showed the FOX executives that a weekly news and information show like UFC Tonight has an audience, and that you can build a successful one-hour preview show around the pre-fight weigh-ins. As the channel continues to grow and get into more households, the numbers for UFC programming will grow along with them, just as they did on Spike.

One other reason why judging this partnership after Year One might be jumping the gun is Dana White’s comments following the UFC 154 post-fight press conference.

“You guys are always so focused on the ratings and all this s**t,” White said to the assembled scrum of reporters. “We’re in a long-term deal with FOX. We’re not going anywhere and we might even be in a longer term deal with FOX.”

Yes, a bunch of that is certainly promoter-speak and what you’d expect to hear from the UFC President, but the “longer term deal” comment is the intriguing part, especially given the recent talk of FOX transforming their motorsports channel Speed into an all-sports network branded as FOX Sports One, with the UFC included as part of the programming package. Considering one of the criticisms of this past year has been that fans have been confused by programming being spread across multiple channels, the potential for all of FOX’s UFC content to be moved under bundled on one network that already reaches 80M homes in the next year should give pause to further critiques, at least until this situation plays out in full.

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Though the first year of the UFC’s deal with FOX didn’t produce the mind-blowing ratings some were expecting, trying to call the partnership a success or failure at this point is premature. The finished product hasn’t been delivered; it’s still a work-in-progress.

Year Two should produce some positive steps forward, and give everyone a clearer picture of what to expect from this partnership as we move into Year Three, Year Four, and so on. If it doesn’t, then there are reasons to be concerned.

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